Three New Ways to Help Boost your Podcast for Free!

Get off the marketing roller coaster and get on the automated fast track to digitally market your brand everywhere. Now join podcast producer Tom Hazzard and Ink columnist Tracy Hazzard as they share easy content building formulas and smart cut secrets proven to fuel hundreds of blogs, podcasts and brands with bingeable original content. Join the conversation on how to get your message out to the world. Be original, be heard. Promote with power and purpose. Feed your brand.

Brand.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to Feed your Brand. I'm your host Tom Hazard and today it's just going to be me. Normally I would absolutely have Tracy, my co host, be on this episode with me. Unfortunately, she has been quite ill with a cold and lost her voice. She's been traveling to a lot of events and speaking from the stage and really you wouldn't want to hear her voice. In fact, she couldn't even really speak today and normally I would say, all right, let's wait and record this episode when your voice is better. However, this is a little time sensitive because I'm timing this episode to come out on just prior to the PodFest Expo, which is a incredible podcasting event taking place in Orlando, Florida. And there's really no time to wait. I won't get this produced and up in time to help benefit all of you just before that show is actually happening, which is on March 7th, 8th and 9th. So I'm timing this to come out on March 6th just before that. And so just know that Tracy's here in spirit and some of what I'm going to talk about today really involves her directly, and I'll make that clear in just a few minutes. So the title of this episode is three Ways to Boost yout show. And one of the most common questions or concerns that we hear from either new or existing podcasters is how am I going to get the word out? How am I going to let people know that I have this podcast out there? How do I get more listeners? And certainly there are many, many answers to that question and I'm not going to dive into all of them. This is not a 101 series on how to do that. We've done some episodes on that and we'll do some more in the future. Today I just want to talk about three new ways that we have come up with to help boost your show. And this might at first seem a little self serving. It's really not intended to be that way. It's just that as we encounter podcasters in our travels, at different business events, networking events, whether they're specifically Podcast related or not, this is an incredibly popular topic and I think a pain point for many podcasters. They're going and spending all this time putting out this wonderful content. And other than putting it up on itunes, and other than spending a whole lot of money on expensive PR campaigns or marketing campaigns that have various levels of success or even lack of success in terms of return on any kind of ad spend, how can you do it more organically? How can you get the word out?

Obviously, everybody these days has a social media profile, whether you prefer LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram, whatever it is. Certainly one of the things we've talked about in the past and continues to be true today for all of us podcasters is utilizing our social media reach to get the word out. But more importantly, how can we get the word out to others and have others help us promote our show, raise awareness? And that's something that we've been thinking a lot about here on Feed your brand podcast and in our business. And we just decided, you know what, we can do something about this and sort of help raise everyone up or at least give everyone opportunities. And so let me tell you what I'm talking about here. We have created three different ways that you can get exposure for your show that are completely free. And while if you're a longtime listener to this podcast, you know, and for any of you potential new listeners know that we are in the business of podcasting, our platform, Poditize, is out there as a hosting platform and we also do done for you production services for an awful lot of podcasters out there. And certainly our done for you production clients are able to use these resources as well. The reality is we wanted to put this out there as something free for anybody. So whether you ever knew us before or not, or you've ever worked with us, it does not matter. These things that I'm going to offer you and share with you today are available to anybody whether we know you or not. The first is on our website, FeedYourBrand co. We have created the opportunity for you to be listed as a host in the feed you'd brand podcast directory. So you can go to there and I'm going to tell you where to go a little bit later in this episode. But you can go to the page on our website and apply to have yourself listed, have a profile of yourself in our podcast directory and there's a simple form you fill out and you submit with all the information and then our team will make a listing for you in the directory. And then anybody who is looking as a guest who's looking to be get interviews on podcasts to help promote whatever they're doing or for whatever reason they may have, they can apply to you, the host of your show, to be a guest. And we're very sensitive to not wanting to spam anybody or I'm sure the last thing any podcast host needs is a whole lot more email in their inbox of people soliciting them and people you don't know. So what we've done is when a guest, a potential guest of yours, comes to our directory, they can research about your show. There'll be information on your show. If you have a show, one sheet, it will be there, a little bio on you as the host, what your show is about, a link to the show on your website for the show. All that kind of information is there. And if they want to pitch you as the host to be a guest on your show, they click a button and they fill out a form. And that form will collect all the information. And it sends it through our system at Potatoes. It sends it through our system that will then send the host an email with all the information to be reviewed. And so we're not allowing the guest potentially to directly communicate with the host. We are providing the information in a protected way, coming from us, an intermediary third party. And it's the host's option to review that information and decide for themselves. They could do a little research, a little homework and decide if the guest who's pitching to be on their show is in fact a good fit for them or not. And what we then our form and all of the communication on the site also informs this potential guest that it's completely up to the discretion of the host if they want to interview or communicate with you, the potential guest. And if they are interested, they will reach out to the guest. And if not, then that's really the end of it. We don't want to create a situation where a PR agency or somebody who's really just trying to get on every podcast possible, knock on every door, would keep knocking and repeatedly on your email inbox and annoy the host. We certainly don't want that. And not that every guest is going to do that, but you can see the potential for this type of thing to happen. So we're not randomly connecting people and disclosing their contact information. We're doing this in what I think is a very appropriate and a very professional way where we're allowing people to pitch each other and connect and hopefully foster a lot of introductions and and help provide a lot of valuable connections for podcast hosts to receive pitches from potential guests. So that's option one.

The second way to boost your show, even if you're a podcast host, is to be found as a podcast guest for other podcasters. And truthfully, this is available not just to podcast hosts to be guests. It's also available for people that are not podcast hosts, but anybody who wants to be found as a podcast guest and you think that you are a particularly good guest, maybe you've been guests on a bunch of podcasts in the past and it's worked really well for you, and you want to continue to do that, and you just want to make yourself known to be seen and eventually heard on more podcasts. Well, so there is a guest directory side to this platform that we've created on our site as well. Whether you're a podcast host or not, you want to be featured as a guest. Same sort of situation. Go to the link at the website and you can fill out a form, put up all your bio information, your headshot, if you have a guest, one sheet, put it there. Any information about any books that you've written, links to, where you are on social media, your website, anywhere that a podcast host could do a little research on you and evaluate you and see if they want to have you as a guest on their show. Again, is it a good fit? Same thing applies that when a podcast host finds you in the directory and then they're interested in having you be a guest on their show, they will fill out a form as the host and apply to you or pitch to you the potential guest that your show would be a good one, that they should come and book a time to be a guest on your show. But this potential guest now is going to get an email from us, from Potatoes that says, hey, this podcast host would like to invite you to be a guest on their show. So then the potential podcast guest is going to receive an application from the podcast host and the guest is going to be able to review all the information about that show, about the host, their background, their butt bio, Go listen to an episode, another episode of on the show, and decide if that show would be a good fit for them. The guest. It's all about trying to match up. But ultimately, in the case of someone listed as a part of the guest directory, it's their choice do they want to be a guest on that podcast, and they have the option. So again, we're going to provide that email to them with all your information coming from us. And then it will be up to that podcast guest to reach out and decide if they want to connect with the host and be a guest on their show. And then once the two sides connect, then the guest can book a time for that interview. And then isn't that wonderful? It's off and running. But again, if the guest, for whatever reason, feels like that podcast is not a fit, there's not this awkwardness of them needing to actually reply. Again, the podcast host is told when they submit the form, if the guest feels that your show is a good fit for them, they will reply to you. And if they don't, then that's it. So again, there's none of this annoying, repeated emailing, knocking on the door, trying to be a guest. So I'm really excited about both the host directory and the guest directory. Essentially, when you get there, you'll see that it's really one big directory. It's just you can screen it in terms of whether you're looking for guests, if you're a podcast host, or if you're a guest and you're looking for podcasts and you're looking to pitch yourself. So you have the options, but they're listed distinctly as podcast hosts or podcast guests. And again, this is completely free. It doesn't have to cost you anything to go and do it. Now, I would recommend for those of you either as a podcast host or as a potential podcast guest, if you don't have a one sheet, then I recommend you get one or create one. And of course, if you don't have one or know what they are, and if you haven't used one before, you can do a little homework or there are people out there who will help you create one. Basically, it's a nicely put together page. Kind of like it's not really a resume, it's more of like a pitch document. Just provides the key information about you as an individual. And if you're a podcast host, it's about your show, what it's about, what it stands for, typical kinds of guests. You might have all that kinds of information to pitch you as a podcast host. And if it's a guest, it's about you. What are you an expert in? What is your experience, your headshot? What about your social media following? Are you an author? What books have you authored? What is it you're an expert in? Or what is it you're all about? And why would a podcast host want to interview you on their show? Of course, you don't have to have a one sheet, you can list your bio information, all your info in the directory listing. But a lot of times a one sheet is a nicer, more higher level of presentation of you. There's also usually some, a little bit of graphics involved, and it's just a nicer way to uplevel your listing. And so I would recommend that.

And now I want to talk about the third way to boost your show that we've come up with and we're offering as an operator, opportunity for anybody listening to this podcast. And that is to apply to be featured in Authority Magazine by columnist Tracy Lee Hazard, who's also the co host of this show. And so now you can see why I really was hoping to have Tracy on this particular episode. But again, due to her cold and her voice not being in a condition to talk and the timing for putting out this episode, it couldn't happen. But Tracy will be back in an upcoming episode. And if you are new to this show and you're hearing this episode for the first time, go back a few episodes, find another one with Tracy and you can listen to her. But in any case. And she also publishes articles on Thrive Global, but Tracy also is now a new columnist for Authority Magazine, and she has the ability to publish as many articles there as she wants to. And this is the great thing about Authority Magazine is that they are actively trying to feature podcasters. They are trying to become a destination for articles and information about podcasters. So for all of you podcast hosts out there, this is an opportunity for you to be featured and written about. And again, this is completely free. This is not a paid situation or paid to play at all. This is an opportunity for you again to go to our website for feed you'd brand. I'm going to give you a specific URL in just a minute where you can go to apply, but you fill out a form to be featured by Tracy Lee Hazard to be interviewed and featured in an article. And that article will not only be posted on Authority Magazine's website, but it will also have a link back from their website to. To your website, to your show. I don't know if everyone listening to this podcast realizes this, but feed your brand and potatoes our company, we are trying, it is our mission, our goal, to help the individual podcaster become the center of influence in their niche, in their genre, in their market. That's our mission, that's our goal. And here we've come up with three new ways to help you do that. Trying to connect guests with hosts with the guest directory and the host Directory. And also now giving you this opportunity to be featured in Authority Magazine and have that power of a backlink from their site to yours. And it's a way for you to get free exposure for your show. So here's the information you've been waiting for, where I'm sure you're all thinking, okay, great, that sounds wonderful. Where can I go to apply? So we've created one new webpage on our FeedYourBrand Co website. So it just spell it like it sounds FeedYourBrand. One word, co.

P rnow. That's p, r, N O, W. And this, of course, if you're driving or you're at the gym and you know you wanted to write that down, you can't write it down and maybe you won't remember it. All you gotta remember is go to FeedYourBrand Co and you can find the latest blog post for this episode. And of course it'll be there. There is also all sorts of other navigation opportunities to get to any of these things, but if you could just remember our URL, FeedYourBrand Co and PR now and put that slash between it, then you'll get to the right place. And so that's one landing page, which gives you those three options. Are you a guest looking to pitch yourself to podcasts? Are you a host who's looking for more guests? Or are you looking to be featured with an article in Authority Magazine written by columnist Tracey Lee Hazzard? And it could be all three, and you're welcome and invited to participate in all of them. I'm very excited about this because we're always looking for new ways for podcasters to get exposure for their show and to help find them good guests. And we have people guests all the times. Ask us, how can I go and pitch myself to podcasters? And we're trying to help provide good ways to do that. It's just a public service and we're super excited about it and hope that you will be too. I look forward to the day when there are just tens of thousands of people in those directories and hundreds and hundreds of articles now on Authority Magazine. There's really no limit to how many can apply and actually get the opportunity to be in all those places. I hope that this is of great value to just about everybody listening to this podcast. So please check that out and always remember that you can reach us anywhere in social media at FeedYourBrand, especially on Facebook. And then all of the blog posts and episodes of this podcast are available on FeatureBrand co. Or on your favorite podcast app. So that's going to be a wrap for this episode. Thank you so much. Three ways to boost your show Come and participate. We would love it. And I look forward to when Tracy is well enough to come back with me and co host another podcast here on Feed you'd brand Stay tuned for a future one, as we will certainly do that for today. This has been your host, Tom Hazard on Feed. You'd brand.

Sam.